Sometimes customer service issues can't be resolved by the randomly-selected representative you're paired with when you call in for help, and nearly every business has some sort of escalation process that can get you better results. You can often get there on your own with enough perseverance, but if you know who to ask for you can save yourself a lot of time and agony.

On the Phone

Regardless of where the issue begins, it generally ends up getting resolved over the phone. If things aren't working out with the customer service agent you're speaking to, you need to get your issue escalated to someone who may be able to help more. Sometimes supervisors are the answer, but a supervisor doesn't always mean you're escalating the issue to the right place. Often times it just means you're talking to a representative's superior who doesn't have much more power. When things aren't working out, you often need to ask for another team.

Charter Communications, Sprint, and many other companies both large and small have a team of customer retention specialists, and that's who you want to ask for. Sometimes the name varies, as Comcast chose executive care. You can often find the names of these teams by doing a quick web search for the company and bad customer experiences, or just reading reviews on sites like Yelp. In the event you can figure it out, just call up the company and ask. Tell them you want to cancel your service (but avoid telling them why, if possible, or you'll be on the phone forever) and ask them to be transferred to the team who handles those calls. There may be some resistance at first, and the representative may want to try and solve your problem in advance, so you may have to go through the motions before getting transferred. And, as always, be nice. Nobody's going to want to help you if you're an asshole.

Online

Lately, Twitter has been an excellent alternative to the telephone (although a phone call is often where things end up). Many companies are online and helping customers in real time. Twitter is often a more effective means of making progress because there aren't tons of people using it (for customer service, that is), and the entire interaction happens in public. UPS, Charter Communications, Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Verizon Wireless, Delta Airlines, and many more have at least one person dedicated to answering tweets (or finding ones that mention the company). If you're looking for a specific company, just search for their name and "twitter customer service". That should turn up the account you're looking for.